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Retrial Set For Sheriff Charged With Abusing Power

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — An October retrial has been set for a former Colorado sheriff charged with abusing his power.

A judge declared a mistrial on July 10 in the case against former El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, after jurors deadlocked on four charges including felony extortion. Jurors acquitted him of witness tampering and an official misconduct.

District Judge Larry E. Schwartz held a conference call Monday with attorneys in the Maketa case and scheduled the retrial to start on Oct. 3.

Terry Maketa walking into the courtroom (credit: CBS)

The remaining counts include extortion charges that allege Maketa threatened to end a $5.3 million per year jail health care contract if the contractor did not fire a woman who would not support then-Undersheriff Paula Presley’s candidacy to succeed Maketa as sheriff. The woman was fired.